NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday arrested two promoters of Chandigarh-based pharma company Parabolic Drugs and a CA of the company in a money laundering case.
The accused, identified as Vineet Gupta and Pranav Gupta, are also the co-founders of Sonepat-based Ashoka University but had stepped down from their posts last year following an FIR registered by the CBI against them. The ED has also arrested Parabolic CA SK Bansal.
Vineet and Pranav Gupta and Bansal were taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following questioning. A special PMLA court in Panchkula sent them to five-day ED custody, they said.
On Friday, the ED carried out searches at over 15 locations in Delhi, Ambala, Panchkula, Chandigarh, and Mumbai in the offices and residential premises linked to the suspects.
The ED case is based on an FIR filed by the CBI against Parabolic Drugs two years back for allegedly defrauding a consortium led by Central Bank of India of Rs 1,626.74 crore.
“It was alleged that the accused had cheated the consortium of banks to the tune of Rs 1,626.74 crore by criminal conspiracy, forgery, and availing of loan funds,” the CBI said in December 2021.
The CBI had at that time booked the company’s MD, Pranav Gupta, and its directors, Vineet Gupta, Deepali Gupta, Rama Gupta, Jagjit Singh Chahal, Sanjeev Kumar, Vandana Singla, Ishrat Gill, and JD Gupta. Two guarantors, TN Goyal and Nirmal Bansal, were also named in the FIR.
The university on Friday said the “ED sought information in the matter of investigations into the case of Parabolic Drugs where Ashoka University founders, Vineet Gupta and Pranav Gupta, are directors.”
While a statement from the institute on the ED action is awaited, it had said Parabolic Drugs was “in no way linked to the Ashoka University.”
PROMOTERS OF PHARMA COMPANY
Vineet & Pranav Gupta are promoters of Chandigarh-based pharma company, Parabolic Drugs. They stepped down from their posts last year following an FIR registered by the CBI against them. The ED has also arrested Parabolic CA SK Bansal. A special court in Panchkula sent them to 5-day ED custody